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Place dossier plate
SheetOK-NORMAN-OK · Norman, OK 128,714 pop · income 43rd pct · 71 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Norman
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Norman on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lawton · lowest
53,588
Lawton · lowest
53,588 median HH income
30.9% of the leader · rank #1
Hiawatha · near
65,058
Hiawatha · near
65,058 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #2
Norristown · near
65,058
Norristown · near
65,058 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #3
Norman · this city
65,060
Norman · this city
65,060 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #4
Schlater · near
65,066
Schlater · near
65,066 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #5
Port Morris · near
65,070
Port Morris · near
65,070 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #6
Santa Clara · highest
173,670
Santa Clara · highest
173,670 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Norman on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 128,714.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Norman - the verdict
Norman ranks in the 43rd percentile for household income and the 22nd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
43rd
percentile, household income
53rd
percentile, home value
14th
percentile, median rent
22nd
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Norman, OK
Norman is a mid-sized U.S. city in Oklahoma, home to 128,714 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Norman report a median income of $65,060 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.4%. Home values in Norman run a median of $239,300, and the median resident age is 31.6 years. About 46.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 59.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 433 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Stable), down 4% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2526.8 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 60.7°F with 37.6 inches of precipitation per year and 4.1 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Oklahoma run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Oklahoma scores 87.8 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $995 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Oklahoma run around $205, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.5 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Norman's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from climate and hazard context to reported crime to within-city variation to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Norman, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Norman?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 60.7°F, with 37.6 inches of precipitation and 4.1 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Oklahoma is 55.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Norman?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2526.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 11% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 71 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Norman?
Within Oklahoma, the closest population matches are Broken Arrow (115,919 residents, $85,220 income); Edmond (95,618 residents, $102,032 income); Lawton (90,662 residents, $53,588 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fargo, ND (129,064 residents); Lewisville, TX (128,313 residents); Santa Clara, CA (129,239 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Norman?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$65,060
Home value
$239,300
Value / income
3.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 30 public schools within the city match. 46.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
30
Bachelor's degree+
46.2%
Poverty estimate
8.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,772 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 433 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+2.2%
2025 estimate
130,943
2020 estimate
128,171
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Norman?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.5%
Work from home
10.1%
Drive alone
73.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 64,205 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 8.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Oklahoma average
C
City profile score · Norman, OK
58/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
87.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share A-
46.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$65,060
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
260 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Norman profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 46.2%
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.4%
Household income: 42/100 (D) · $65,060
Violent crime: 39/100 (F) · 260 /100k
Where Norman sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Norman's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Norman highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Norman, OK (this city): home $239,300, crime 2,527/100k
Fargo, ND : home $269,800, crime 4,195/100k
Lewisville, TX : home $350,200, crime 1,705/100k
Santa Clara, CA : home $1,527,900, crime 2,684/100k
Columbia, MO : home $268,300, crime 2,665/100k
Abilene, TX : home $178,900, crime 2,188/100k
Broken Arrow, OK : home $229,300, crime 1,424/100k
Edmond, OK : home $324,900, crime 1,521/100k
Lawton, OK : home $134,200, crime 3,473/100k
Moore, OK : home $189,300, crime 1,703/100k
Midwest City, OK : home $158,400, crime 2,428/100k
Enid, OK : home $143,500, crime 2,922/100k
How does Norman compare to other US cities?
Norman measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income43% higher than other cities
Home value53% pricier than other cities
Median rent14% pricier than other cities
Safety22% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Oklahoma alone, Norman ranks #161 of 203 Oklahoma cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Norman against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Oklahoma only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Oklahoma-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Norman near the bottom of Oklahoma's cities
Among the 671 Oklahoma cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Norman ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Norman only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#166 of 639
74th percentile in Oklahoma
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 671
0th percentile in Oklahoma
Median Home Value
#27 of 628
96th percentile in Oklahoma
Poverty Rate
#455 of 671
32nd percentile in Oklahoma
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#19 of 671
97th percentile in Oklahoma
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Oklahoma only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
43rd percentile nationally for median household income · 22nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Norman's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Norman's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Norman's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$239,30047th percentilemore affordable than 47% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Norman's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,645 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#261 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 3.7×, Norman sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,645 of 15,516 and #261 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$65,060Norman, OK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Norman, OK median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Norman, OK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
128,714
Median Income
$65,060
Median Home Value
$239,300
Median Age
31.6
Poverty Rate
8.4%
Labor force participation
59.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2526.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
260.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2266.6
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
60.7°F
Annual Precipitation
37.6"
Annual Snowfall
4.1"
Schools
Total Schools
30
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Norman's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
128,171 residents
2021
129,103 residents
2022
129,763 residents
2023
130,221 residents
2024
130,863 residents
2025
130,943 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
433
housing units authorized
Single-Family
418
detached homes
Multifamily
15
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
449
419
30
$119.1M
2020
795
537
258
$174.1M
2021
742
565
177
$196.4M
2022
425
391
34
$138.4M
2023
411
359
52
$146.5M
2024
433
418
15
$168.5M
Permit volume decreased 4% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.4%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
4.4%
Work from Home
10.1%
Other
1.5%
Based on 64,205 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Oklahoma statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $205
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Oklahoma at $205 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Oklahoma statewide averages, not a meter reading for Norman. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Oklahoma's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Norman is $995/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Oklahoma statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.5 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Oklahoma statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Norman sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Norman compares to similar-size Oklahoma cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.